Georg Raphael Donner

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Georg Raphael Donner; Copper engraving by Jakob Schmutzer after a painting by Paul Troger
Georg Raphael Donner; Medalist: Stefan Schwartz
100 euro gold coin (2002); Medalists: Herbert Wähner and Thomas Pesendorfer
Donnerbrunnen in Vienna; one of his most famous works (1737–1739)
Memorial at Schwarzenbergplatz , Donner with a model for the Providentiabrunnen

Georg Raphael Donner (born May 24, 1693 in Essling (now Vienna ), † February 15, 1741 in Vienna) was an Austrian sculptor and medalist . Along with Balthasar Permoser, he is considered to be the most important Central European sculptor of his time. Donner adopted the middle name Raphael in admiration for the Italian painter Raffael and Roman antiquity (hence the spelling Raffael Donner).

Live and act

Coming from a family of carpenters , Donner was originally trained as a goldsmith . Around 1707 he began an apprenticeship as a sculptor with Giovanni Giuliani , which gave him access to the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein , which represented a decisive artistic influence. What was astonishing for contemporaries was the fact that he was able to achieve his championship without a study trip to Italy . A stay in Munich around 1710 is certain. It is assumed that he learned the technique of lead casting at that time .

A lead Mercury with Cupid was created in 1725/26. This can be seen in the Klosterneuburg Abbey Museum. The model for this work could be the Mercury by François Duquesnoy , which is kept in the Lichtenstein Collection. This figure lost its Mercury identity in the inventory of 1658, whether this was also the case at the time of the role model is unclear. The model shows several equal viewing sides, while the Mercury with Amor von Donner has only one viewing side. Another possible model is Adriaen de Vries's Mercury Fountain in Dresden , which he may have seen during his visit to Balthasar Permoser. It is also possible to know this well through an engraving by Wolfgang Kilian .

After working on the marble staircase in Mirabell Palace in Salzburg , he first attracted national attention in 1729 for his work on the altars of the Elomosynarius chapel in St. Martin's Cathedral in Pressburg . His antiquing (“classicistic”) tendency comes to the fore for the first time. In Pressburg, on the high altar of St. Martin's Cathedral, there is also his equestrian statue of St. Martin from around 1735. All of these commissions go back above all to the Prince Primate of Hungary , Count Imre Esterházy .

His apotheosis of Emperor Charles VI was created around 1734 which is set up in the Belvedere in Vienna . The emperor is depicted as a Roman emperor who is crowned by Fama (the allegorical figure of fame) with a coiled serpent (symbol of eternity). In contrast to the apotheosis of Prince Eugen von Permoser in the next room but one, there is clarity and balance between movement and calm, here too anticipating the demands of classicism .

After 1737 his most famous work, the Providentiabrunnen , ( popularly Donnerbrunnen ), which stands on the Mehlmarkt (today Neuer Markt ) in Vienna, was created. Amazingly, it is a commission from the city administration, which before and long afterwards hardly appears as a patron. Around the allegorical figure of Providentia (the foresight, i.e. the wise government), next to putti and fish, very lively personifications of Austrian rivers are designed in a semi-recumbent position. Enns and Traun are shown as men, March and Ybbs as women. This representation of river personifications was exemplary until the early 19th century, for example for the Austriabrunnen on the Freyung or at the Albertinarampe . Today the fountain is best known under the name Donnerbrunnen .

Another fountain in Vienna is the Andromeda fountain in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall , and the liberation of Andromeda is interpreted as an allegory of the liberation from the Turks.

His last major work is a Pietà in the Gurk Cathedral .

Donner's sculpture remains an ideal form of form in Vienna until at least the end of the 18th century ; it is passed on to the next generation, such as Balthasar Ferdinand Moll , Johann Georg Dorfmeister and Jakob Christoph Schletterer , via his brother Matthäus , an academy teacher .

Georg Raphael Donner was buried in the Landstraßer St. Nikolai cemetery (today's Rochusmarkt ). After its abandonment in 1784, the remains of those buried here (including those of Donners) were exhumed and transferred to the Sankt Marxer Friedhof .

Monuments, names and artistic designs

In 1862, Donnergasse was named after him in Vienna's Inner City (1st district) . In addition, the Raphael-Donner-Allee was named after him in his birthplace, today's Essling district in Vienna .

The monument created by Richard Kauffungen and unveiled on Schwarzenbergplatz in 1906 shows Donner with a model of the Providentia figure for the fountain on Neuer Markt. A bronze bust depicting thunder is in front of St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava.

In 2002, Austria's first 100 euro commemorative coin was issued in honor of Georg Raphael Donner.

The Austrian writer Franz Karl Ginzkey wrote the novella The blessed fountain about the artist's life and the prehistory that led to the creation of the Providentiabrunnens (1940). The silent size (1954) is a biographical novel about thunder by Elisabeth Soffé .

literature

Web links

Commons : Georg Raphael Donner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leonard Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists. Donner, Georg Raphael . tape 1 . Spink & Son Ltd, London 1904, p. 606 . Leonard Forrer: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists. Donner, Georg Raphael . tape
     7 . Spink & Son Ltd, London 1923, p. 229 .
  2. ^ Nikolaifriedhof in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
personal data
SURNAME Donner, Georg Raphael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1693
PLACE OF BIRTH Essling (today Vienna )
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1741
Place of death Vienna